Followup on the Africa Cup of Nations

Thanks to Ron Howard for the followup from my previous post on Africa Cup of Nations.
Gayle VH

The following is a brief excerpt from The Guardian (Nigeria). Full story at:
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/media/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=140108&ptitle=Our%20position%20on%20the%20prohibitive%20broadcast%20rights%20fee%20on%20African%20Cup%20of%20Nations

Our position on the prohibitive broadcast rights fee on African Cup of Nations
By Abubakar B. Jijiwa
Monday, January 14, 2008

WE are once again at the threshold of another important continental fiesta, the African Cup of Nations, which holds every two years and is now been acclaimed as Africa's highest and biggest event.

As media practitioners, our commitment to its success goes beyond that of cheering spectators or fans of competing national teams whose interests are limited to their teams winning the tournament.

0For us in the media, we must provide the platform through which the public can read, listen and view the signals of the 32 football matches that will hold in Ghana between January 20 to February 10, 2008.

Consequently, the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), being the umbrella association of all public and commercial radio and television stations in the country, wishes to use this opportunity to state our position on the current impasse that could inhibit the transmission of the forthcoming MTN African Cup of Nations holding in Ghana by radio and television stations in Nigeria.

Africa Cup of Nations on the BBC

BBC World Service will be in the heart of Ghana to bring what promises to be most extensive coverage yet of the Africa Cup of Nations to millions of football fans across Africa and the world.


Our three-week coverage from the biggest sporting event on the continent began Friday 18 January and the highlight of the day was the much anticipated announcement of Emmanuel Adebayor as the BBC's African Footballer of the Year 2007 on the BBC's English for Africa sports programme, Fast Track.

The BBC's 60 million weekly listeners in Africa will hear match commentary on the radio and special reports capturing the vibe and excitement of Ghana 2008 in a range of programmes while globally, special programming includes the dedicated 10-minute morning programme Africa Cup of Nations Daily, at 04.20 and 07.20 GMT, and two special editions of the interactive programme World Have Your Say Wednesday 30 January and Friday 1 February at 18.00 GMT.
Please note, that due to rights restrictions the BBC World Service cannot carry any commentary from the tournament online.
Read more on this story at BBC Radio World Service at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/080116_african_football_coverage.shtml